Past US attempts to remake Middle East offer warnings

As President Donald Trump floats the idea of “regime change” in Tehran, previous US attempts to remake the Middle East by force over the decades offer stark warnings about the possibility of a deepening involvement in the Iran-Israeli conflict.

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“If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???” Trump posted on his social media site over the weekend.

This came after the US bombed Iran’s nuclear sites but before that country retaliated by firing its own missiles at a US base in Qatar.

White House press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday insisted that Trump, who spent years railing against “forever wars” and pushing an “America first” world view, had not committed a political about-face.

Leavitt also suggested that a new government in Iran could come about after its people stage a revolt — not necessarily requiring direct US intervention.

That's a perilous path that other US administrations have taken. And it’s a long way from Trump's past dismissal of “stupid, endless wars,” and his scoffing at the idea of nation-building championed by his Republican predecessors — including in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the US helped overthrow governments.

Some lessons learned from previous conflicts:

US special forces and Afghan allies drove the Taliban from power and chased Osama bin Laden into Pakistan within months of the 11 September, 2001, attacks.

American tanks rolled into Baghdad weeks after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq.